Chinese New Year Parade

The trip to China Town in Chicago was a great experience. The train ride was nice and smooth, although this wasn’t my first time taking the train to Chicago. I have gone every year with my parents for our annual holiday trip to visit the city. For most of this ride, we had our own train car there and back. This was my first trip to China Town and it was a great place to go and see. I enjoyed seeing all the different buildings and people that were in the streets watching the parade. I was impressed by the Wall of Nine Dragons at the entrance to China Town. The parade was awesome to see. There were a lot of tigers in the parade in honor of 2010 being the year of the tiger. There were many different kinds of dragons and even a puppet show in the parade. I have seen this puppet show in Chicago before and it is very entertaining. I was really surprised when I saw the Bag Piper’s marching in the parade. I don’t think we would see them in a New Year’s Parade in China. There were all types of people in the crowd and in the parade, from firemen and Ronald McDonald to school bands, many who were not even Chinese. This field trip and spending time with my classmates made me more excited to be going on the trip to China.

I read about the history of the Chinese New Year at <http://www.history.com/topics/chinese-new-year>. The Chinese New Year was originally tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar; the holiday was a time to honor household and heavenly deities as well as ancestors. It was also a time to bring family together for feasting and relaxing. Most Chinese people now call it the Spring Festival.

This experience will better prepare me for our trip to China, by learning about the different celebrations they celebrate. I now have a better knowledge of some of the different customs they have and the importance of bringing their family together.